<-=- Club Bevel Heaven -=->

After attempting to start yesterday,today I found the garage floor covered with fuel and fuel pouring out of the carb mouth, motor likely full of fuel and new oil ruined.Taps don't seem to have an off position at all. Can these taps be overhauled or am i wasting my time?.

bobnorton wrote:Can these taps be overhauled ...

Yes, they can. The problem is that the rubber washer inside is worn.

You can try flipping the washers over, but I'd advise getting replacements - try Steve A or Damien Birch. But check first that they have the right size for your taps - dismantle a tap and measure the diameter of the washer. Be careful. The tap bodies aren't very strong and can crack (I seem to remember they're brass or similar).

(Their make is ORLANDI, btw - 'Brevi' is simply a shortening of 'Brevettato(i)' which means 'Registered', as in 'Registered design', in Italian.)

https://store.bevelheaven.com/carb-fuel ... seal-17mm/
http://bevelrubber.com.au/cart/index.ph ... cPath=4_23

bobnorton wrote:... or am i wasting my time?

If that doesn't work, you can get repros - again, from Steve or Andrew Jones, for example.

https://store.bevelheaven.com/carb-fuel ... 0gt/s-etc/
http://www.mdinaitalia.co.uk/cgi-bin/co ... =079583080

Unfortunately, I don't think you can fit the later type - which tend to be cheaper. Like this:
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Petcock-Fuel- ... 460c0633b2

But check your thead sizes. I supect yours are 12mm (x1.5mm), while the later type are (normally? always?) 16mm (x1mm). But check with Steve, for example.

bobnorton wrote: ...and new oil ruined.

No, it won't be. Drain it, and leave it to stand somewhere well-aired. The lighter fuel will rise to the top and simply evaporate off. Oil will be good to go again.

Your taps may well be leaking but your symptom sounds like you've got a leaking float needle.Probably an ort of dirt stuck to the needle.

Yes, one carb with a sticky float. filled up the manifold, luckily on compression so the valve was shut.Took the plugs out and it blew accross the newly dried garage!.I tried all the positions on the taps ,so the seals are well gone.Now I've dried the floor i can see that my recon caliper is dripping too. Time for a Budwizer --or two.

bobnorton wrote:Yes, one carb with a sticky float.

As Bill says, just make sure the needle valve is closing off completely too. These are best renewed as a matter of course anyways, IMO.

Btw, do you know why/how the floats were sticking? They should be very loose on their spindles = no danger of them sticking. That said, if they're not positioned quite right, it is just possible to snag them when replacing the float bowls ...

Hi Craig, Took the float chambers off, front one was filled with foul smelling fuel and a thick layer of what looked like WD green paint??, Funny as it was running when i got it a year or so ago. Drained tank and other carb,float needle seems to hold air pressure ok.Taps appear to hold air too,I'll try again with new fuel.Need to check for dissolving tank liner.Unless going green means just that.

Hi Bob,

If the bike's been sitting with old fuel in it for "a year or so", I foresee 2x full carb 'strip, clean, replace, reset' in your near future . (Mind you, I clean/have cleaned old carbs as a matter of course, anyways).

Don't know about your thick layer of green ... stuff. Fuel corrosion of the brass components in carbs can produce a small amount of green 'stuff', but I've never seen it amount to 'a thick layer' . But, that said, if it wasn't in the other carb as well, I'd question whether it's something that came out of the tank. Curious ... Let us know what you find.

(Not quite sure what you mean by "float needle seems to hold air pressure ok". But as long as the valve is stopping more fuel coming in once it reaches the right level in the float bowl, all is good).

After cleaning / refurbing carbs I usually blow air down a fuel line with the needle valve in place and check that very light pressure on the valve stops the airflow.

Oops, this sounds like a BJ! Yikes!

Colin